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New guy in Nashville

05-17-2008, 04:08 PM

Hello,

My name is Rowland and i am just getting started here on this forum. Looks great and i can't wait to learn more.

SO a little background info for you. I am a baker by trade, while i love my job its pretty mundane. I am also a member of a medieval education center in Columbia TN. One of our projects is a period bread oven.

None of us are masons and as this is a non-profit group, the money will come out of our pockets. So whatever i am going to come up with has to be fairly easy to build and fairly easy on the wallet.

I would want the oven to be big enough to bake a decent amount of bread (say 30 loaves a day). However my biggest concern is the oven would only be used every so often. At most the oven would only be fired 5-10 times a year (give or take).

I have not really decided on a style yet but doing a little research first.

I am not too far from you in North Mississippi...
Hope to be of assistance!
Best
Dutch

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. " Charles Mingus
"Build at least two brick ovens...one to make all the mistakes on and the other to be just like you dreamed of!" Dutch

Comment

That's a lot of work for only 5 -10 firings per year. You might consider a bit of reseach to see if there's another WFO close by that you could use as necessary for your own purposes. Bring your own firewood - I don't think the owner would have major issues with you pre-heating the oven for him/her while you did your own baking.

GJBingham
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Everyone makes mistakes. The trick is to make mistakes when nobody is looking.

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Comment

Hi Rowland,
welcome to the forum.
my 40" pompeii oven is always available for use. I am always keen to observe a trademan prtacticing his skills, especially ones that I need improvement in.
We have a few ovens and builders over here but a were a little out of your way. Down under in Australia. However, you are always welcome if ever visiting, to come in for a meal and share your baking skills.
I have a car which unlike many others that can't go past a hotel, mine can't past a bakery without stopping.

Comment

Welcome aboard and pleased to meet you. I hope you enjoy this site as much as I have. Sounds like you may be more interested in a clay oven that a brick oven. Same general build technique but cheaper materials. I personally am leaning in that direction since I am heading for my first build. Since you are workig out of pocket with a group you will find clay a lot less expensive. You need a shovel and some strong backs lol. And of course a couple of 12 packs go a long way. Best of luck with this project.

Comment

Is it sort of like re-enactment at all? I'm just thinking that depending on what kind of group it is and how important it is to you, rebuilding an authentic (as much as possible) medievil oven would be a really interesting project in itself, irrespective of the numbers of firings. And you being a baker, you might find yourself using it al lot more often than that - if it is feasable.

Plenty of us here built an oven with no prior masonry experience, and firebricks seem to be fairly low cost in the US... in addition baking in a wood fired oven might just give your career an new spark of interest...

Comment

I agree that 5-10 firings a year is scant. Before you opt for the "cheaper route" look into co-oping with another group, perhaps caterers or other bakers, or folks who work at farmer's markets. What about the Fairgrounds, where people could schedule times to bake or something. Maybe make it a community project instead of just one group. Gee, I wish I had done that with my oven! Good luck thinking outside the box!

Comment

The Cumberland Medieval Education center is a 50 acre plot in the Louisberg/Columbia TN area. We are a non profit center and used most often by the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism). We also host various Boy Scout gatherings, and looking to expand to some of the Mountain man and Pow Wow groups.

Besides events, a lot of us just like to get together and hang out in camp. Now i say 5-10 firings a year, this is just a guess. I just count the events, no telling how often we may fire it up for a gathering of friends.

As a baker i can see me hanging out often just to bake bread for people

In most groups being a baker would seem a boring job. Among these people my job equates to being a rock star!

I know it might not be the most cost effective to build an oven for the few times we would use it. Still its a project that fits right in with who we are and what we do.

Comment

Hey, me too! I'm not trying to talk you out of a great project. It will be there for a long, long time. The money expended will be small indeed compared to the satisfaction gained over many years of wonderful baking and cooking.

GJBingham
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Everyone makes mistakes. The trick is to make mistakes when nobody is looking.